Dorothy Sagwe – Director, Business Finance at Oracle (EA) made a presentation to students during the 2018 Career Fair on future career trends. Her presentation was very informative that the Career Office thought of disseminating this information on the website alongside the event’s report.
So here goes…
Careers are changing and technology is at the core of this change. Graduates should therefore set out to look into what the changing nature of the work place and skills required for one to be productive in the job market.
It does not matter what field you are in, graduates should think beyond boarders of the traditional employment. The job market is broad and graduates must therefore fully engage themselves with skills in their area of focus and beyond. Times have changed and as opposed to looking for a specialist in a certain field the traditional way, one can go online and find specialized services in a snap. In this 21st century, the consumer is online; graduates’ skills and knowledge must be advertised online too.
With the diversification of available jobs, employees have to be team players so as to work and deliver results without supervision. Employees must move with the world and not to stay idle at any cost. It is therefore important for employees to take initiative so as to excel in the workplace. This can be done by taking into consideration three points. The first being able to re-invent oneself by learning, unlearning and relearning. Secondly, an employee must understand that we live and work in a community where there are diverse people who have acquired different pieces of information one can tap into; thus, the importance of coaches/ mentors comes in. Lastly, employees must develop leadership skills, be team players, acquire problem solving skills and social skills that help drive virtues like trust and integrity in building the economy.
The difference between who you are today and who you will be in the future will be the books you read, the people you meet and interact with and the places you go to. In conclusion, the speaker emphasized that each person is a resource to his/her family and community.
Therefore, students must strive to:
- Re-invent themselves continually learn, unlearn, re-learn-Get their skill out there faster and more efficiently;
- Live and work within a community, different people offer different services. Mentor others in your line of profession, specialization;
- Develop soft skills that make the world go round – leadership skills, teamwork, problem solving, social needs, value system-integrity;
- Keep reading and learning both online and physical classes, look for coaches and mentors;
- Work with integrity.
With this knowledge, the Office of career Services hopes any student reading this will re-invent themselves and tap on the skills shared here to excel in the job market